A refrigerator having improved recognition rate of rfid tags. Antennas of rfid readers are slantingly installed in walls of storage chambers, thereby increasing the recognition rate of the rfid tags attached to foods stored in the storage chambers.
|
1. A refrigerator having an improved recognition rate of rfid tags, comprising:
storage chambers; and
a plurality of rfid readers, each of which includes an antenna, for receiving data from the rfid tags attached to goods stored in the storage chambers,
wherein the antennas of the rfid readers are installed completely within walls of the storage chambers such that the antennas slant with respect to the walls at a designated angle.
5. A refrigerator having an improved recognition rate of rfid tags, comprising:
storage chambers; and
first rfid readers installed completely within side walls of the storage chambers for receiving data from the rfid tags attached to goods stored in the storage chambers; and
second rfid readers installed completely within rear walls of the storage chambers for receiving data from the rfid tags attached to the goods stored in the storage chambers,
wherein loop planes of antennas of the first rfid readers slant in a longitudinal direction, and loop planes of antennas of second rfid readers slant in a transverse direction.
2. The refrigerator as set forth in
wherein slanting directions of the antennas differ according to the walls in which the rfid readers are installed.
3. The refrigerator as set forth in
wherein the antennas have coiled shapes, and loop planes of the antennas of the rfid readers installed in the side walls of the storage chambers slant in a longitudinal direction.
4. The refrigerator as set forth in
wherein the antennas have coiled shapes, and loop planes of the antennas of the rfid readers installed in the rear walls of the storage chambers slant in a transverse direction.
|
This application claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 2004-99391, filed Nov. 30, 2004, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator having an improved recognition rate of RFID tags and, more particularly, to a refrigerator having an improved recognition rate of RFID tags attached to foods stored in storage chambers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an automatic recognition technique, which recognizes radio frequency, and generally consists of RFID tags, RFID readers, and a host computer. The above RFID technique is employed by noncontact cards, which substitute for barcodes and magnetic cards, and recently has been used in various fields, such as a distribution field (logistics and storage management) and an industrial field (process management).
In addition to the above-described fields, the RFID technique is used in household electric appliances. For example, the RFID technique is employed in refrigerators. A conventional refrigerator, which is disclosed by Japanese Laid-open Publication No. 2002-81848, comprises RFID readers installed in side walls, i.e., left and right walls, and rear walls of storage chambers, a control device performing a food treatment program for treating stored states of foods contained in the storage chambers, and a display unit installed on the outer wall of the refrigerator. In the above conventional refrigerator, RFID tags attached to the foods and the RFID readers communicate with each other at regular intervals of time so as to check the quantity of the stored foods and to display the obtained quantity of the stored foods using the display unit, thereby allowing a user to frequently check whether or not foods are consumed and/or remain.
That is, each of the RFID readers of the conventional refrigerator has a coil-shaped antenna installed therein. The antennas of the RFID readers generate magnetic lines of a designated frequency so that the magnetic lines of the antennas of the RFID readers interlink with those of coil-shaped antennas of the RFID tags. When the antennas of the RFID tags generate electricity due to the interlinking, the RFID tags transmit data regarding the foods, stored in their memories, to the RFID readers using the generated electricity, thereby communicating with the RFID readers.
In order to prevent the generation of a blind area, in which the RFID tags are not recognized, when the RFID tags attached to the stored foods are recognized by the RFID readers, the conventional refrigerator comprises the RFID readers installed in all walls of the storage chambers, thereby having high production costs. For example, in the case that foods are stored in a refrigerator comprising RFID readers installed only in side walls of storage chambers, when loop planes (inner surfaces formed by the turning of the coil-shaped antennas) of coil-shaped antennas of RFID tags attached to the foods are positioned in parallel with the bottom surfaces of the storage chambers, the loop planes of the coil-shaped antennas of the RFID tags are perpendicular to loop planes of the coil-shaped antennas of the RFID readers. Then, magnetic lines generated from the RFID tags are not interlinked with any of magnetic lines generated from the RFID readers. Thus, the RFID readers cannot recognize the RFID tags. Accordingly, the conventional refrigerator is disadvantageous in that the RFID readers must be installed in upper and lower walls of the storage chambers as well as the side walls of the storage chambers.
Therefore, an aspect of the invention is to provide a refrigerator having an improved recognition rate of RFID tags so that a small number of RFID readers efficiently recognize the RFID tags.
An apparatus consistent with the present invention provides a refrigerator having an improved recognition rate of RFID tags, comprising: storage chambers; and a plurality of RFID readers, each of which includes an antenna, for receiving data from the RFID tags attached to goods stored in the storage chambers, wherein the antennas of the RFID readers are installed in walls of the storage chambers such that the antennas slant with respect to the walls at a designated angle.
These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention, an example of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The exemplary embodiment is described below to explain the present invention by referring to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in
As shown in
Preferably, but not necessarily, as shown in
Further, preferably, but not necessarily as shown in
In the case that the antennas 21 of the RFID readers 20 slant with respect to the side and/or rear walls 12 and 13 of the storage chamber 11, it is possible precisely to recognize an RFID tag 30 (in
A plurality of the RFID readers 20, which are slantingly installed, eliminates a blind area in the storage chamber 11, in which the RFID tag 30 is not recognized by the RFID readers 20. That is, when an antenna 31 (in
When the RFID readers 20 are slantingly installed as shown in
As described above, in the case that the RFID readers 20 are slantingly installed in the side and rear walls 12 and 13 of the storage chamber 11, it is possible to recognize the RFID tag 30, the antenna 31 of which has a vertical or horizontal loop plane, only using the RFID readers 20 installed in the side or rear walls 12 and 13 of the storage chamber 11. Further, even when the RFID tag 30 is located in any direction in the storage chamber 11, at least one of the RFID readers 20 installed in the side walls 12 or the rear wall 13 of the storage chamber 11 can recognize the RFID tag 30. Accordingly, it is unnecessary to additionally install other RFID readers 20 in the upper and lower walls of the storage chamber 11.
As shown in
Further, each of the RFID readers 20 includes a reader microcomputer 22 connected to the antenna 21. The reader microcomputer 22 analyzes identification (ID) or data of the RFID tag 30 by sending an RF signal or receiving an RF signal transmitted from the RFID tag 30 according to a firmware algorithm, and communicates with the refrigerator microcomputer 16. Although not shown in
Hereinafter, operation of the refrigerator having improved recognition rate of RFID tags in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described.
During the operation of the refrigerator, the reader microcomputer 22 transmits current to the antennas 21 of the RFID readers 20 every cycle, thereby forming a magnetic field in the storage chamber 11. The magnetic field generates current to the antenna 31 of the RFID tag 30, thereby supplying energy to the RFID tag 30 (only when the RFID tag is a passive tag). A tag chip 32, which is activated by the energy, transmits the ID and data of the RFID tag 30, attached to food, to the RFID readers 20. Preferably, but not necessarily, the RFID readers 20 are designed such that although a plurality of the RFID readers 20 simultaneously recognize the RFID tag 30, the RFID readers 20 can recognize the RFID tag 30 by means of an anti-collision function.
The reader microcomputers 22 analyze the ID and data transmitted from the RFID tag 30, and transmit the analyzed data to the refrigerator microcomputer 16. The refrigerator microcomputer 16 changes the display of the display unit 17 according to the data transmitted from the RFID readers 22. For example, in the case that food is additionally supplied to the inside of the storage chamber 11, an RFID tag 30 attached to the newly supplied food transmits its ID and data to the RFID readers 20, and the RFID readers 20 analyze the ID and data and transmit the analyzed data to the refrigerator microcomputer 16. Then, the refrigerator microcomputer 16 confirms the newly supplied food through the analyzed data, and changes the total number of foods, displayed by the display unit 17, to a new total number incremented by the number of the added food.
As apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a refrigerator having improved recognition rate of RFID tags, in which antennas of RFID readers are slantingly installed in side and rear walls of storage chambers. Thereby, it is possible to recognize all of RFID tags attached to foods stored in the storage chambers without installing the RFID readers in upper and lower walls of the storage chambers.
Although an exemplary embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.
Kim, Hoon, Son, Chang Ho, Jung, Woon Sung, Park, You Na, Lee, Hye Rim
Patent | Priority | Assignee | Title |
10145568, | Jun 27 2016 | Whirlpool Corporation | High efficiency high power inner flame burner |
10551056, | Feb 23 2017 | Whirlpool Corporation | Burner base |
10619862, | Jun 28 2018 | Whirlpool Corporation | Frontal cooling towers for a ventilation system of a cooking appliance |
10627116, | Jun 26 2018 | Whirlpool Corporation | Ventilation system for cooking appliance |
10660162, | Mar 16 2017 | Whirlpool Corporation | Power delivery system for an induction cooktop with multi-output inverters |
10837651, | Sep 24 2015 | Whirlpool Corporation | Oven cavity connector for operating power accessory trays for cooking appliance |
10837652, | Jul 18 2018 | Whirlpool Corporation | Appliance secondary door |
10955182, | Nov 07 2017 | FreshRealm, LLC | Dynamic packing system |
11010320, | Jan 24 2014 | Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America | Cooking apparatus, cooking method, non-transitory recording medium on which cooking control program is recorded, and cooking-information providing method |
11137145, | Jun 28 2018 | Whirlpool Corporation | Frontal cooling towers for a ventilation system of a cooking appliance |
11226106, | Jun 26 2018 | Whirlpool Corporation | Ventilation system for cooking appliance |
11460195, | Sep 24 2015 | Whirlpool Corporation | Oven cavity connector for operating power accessory trays for cooking appliance |
11622648, | May 09 2012 | WELBILT DEUTSCHLAND GMBH | Optical quality control methods |
11777190, | Dec 29 2015 | Whirlpool Corporation | Appliance including an antenna using a portion of appliance as a ground plane |
7710275, | Mar 16 2007 | Promega Corporation | RFID reader enclosure and man-o-war RFID reader system |
7784689, | Oct 20 2000 | Promega Corporation | Radio frequency identification method and system of distributing products |
7791479, | Feb 21 2002 | Promega Corporation | RFID point of sale and delivery method and system |
7938326, | Oct 20 2000 | Promega Corporation | RF point of sale and delivery method and system using communication with remote computer and having features to read a large number of RF tags |
7967199, | Oct 20 2000 | Promega Corporation | Radio frequency identification method and system of distributing products |
8025228, | Oct 20 2000 | Promega Corporation | RF point of sale and delivery method and system using communication with remote computer and having features to read a large number of RF tags |
8031072, | Mar 16 2007 | Promega Corporation | RFID reader enclosure and man-o-war RFID reader system |
8113425, | Oct 20 2000 | Promega Corporation | RF point of sale and delivery method and system using communication with remote computer and having features to read a large number of RF tags |
8231053, | Oct 20 2000 | Promega Corporation | Radio frequency identification method and system of distributing products |
8258961, | Mar 16 2007 | Promega Corporation | RFID reader enclosure and man-o-war RFID reader system |
D835775, | Sep 17 2015 | Whirlpool Corporation | Gas burner |
RE46326, | Oct 20 2000 | Promega Corporation | RF point of sale and delivery method and system using communication with remote computer and having features to read a large number of RF tags |
RE47599, | Oct 20 2000 | Promega Corporation | RF point of sale and delivery method and system using communication with remote computer and having features to read a large number of RF tags |
Patent | Priority | Assignee | Title |
6669089, | Nov 12 2001 | 3M Innovative Properties Company | Radio frequency identification systems for asset tracking |
6829520, | Jun 03 2003 | The Boeing Company; Boeing Company, the | Time-and-temperature sensitive material tracking |
6892545, | Feb 28 2000 | DAI NIPPON PRINTING CO , LTD | Automatic refrigerator system, refrigerator, automatic cooking system, and microwave oven |
6982640, | Nov 21 2002 | THINKLOGIX, LLC | RFID system and method for tracking food freshness |
7032818, | Jul 03 2001 | SOCIÉTÉ DES PRODUITS NESTLÉ S A | Method and system of setting and/or controlling of a food product dispensing machine using a tag-type communication device |
7096221, | Jul 12 2000 | Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. | Food information management system |
7102519, | Apr 30 2004 | Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.; HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L P | Concentric tag-reader method and system for RFID |
JP2004144357, | |||
KR100459625, |
Executed on | Assignor | Assignee | Conveyance | Frame | Reel | Doc |
Mar 31 2005 | JUNG, WOON SUNG | SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO , LTD | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 016535 | 0059 | |
Mar 31 2005 | KIM, HOON | SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO , LTD | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 016535 | 0059 | |
Mar 31 2005 | SON, CHANG HO | SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO , LTD | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 016535 | 0059 | |
Mar 31 2005 | PARK, YOU NA | SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO , LTD | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 016535 | 0059 | |
Mar 31 2005 | LEE, HYE RIM | SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO , LTD | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 016535 | 0059 | |
May 05 2005 | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | (assignment on the face of the patent) |
Date | Maintenance Fee Events |
Oct 23 2008 | ASPN: Payor Number Assigned. |
Jun 20 2011 | M1551: Payment of Maintenance Fee, 4th Year, Large Entity. |
Jun 29 2011 | ASPN: Payor Number Assigned. |
Jun 29 2011 | RMPN: Payer Number De-assigned. |
Aug 14 2015 | REM: Maintenance Fee Reminder Mailed. |
Jan 01 2016 | EXP: Patent Expired for Failure to Pay Maintenance Fees. |
Date | Maintenance Schedule |
Jan 01 2011 | 4 years fee payment window open |
Jul 01 2011 | 6 months grace period start (w surcharge) |
Jan 01 2012 | patent expiry (for year 4) |
Jan 01 2014 | 2 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 4) |
Jan 01 2015 | 8 years fee payment window open |
Jul 01 2015 | 6 months grace period start (w surcharge) |
Jan 01 2016 | patent expiry (for year 8) |
Jan 01 2018 | 2 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 8) |
Jan 01 2019 | 12 years fee payment window open |
Jul 01 2019 | 6 months grace period start (w surcharge) |
Jan 01 2020 | patent expiry (for year 12) |
Jan 01 2022 | 2 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 12) |